hospital update

phew, it's been an exhausting time here!

Aggie started his psoriasis treatement in hospital, and it seemed to be working really well, when he started showing signs of a major infection. his tempreture was a bit up when he went in, but we thought it was just the inability of his skin to do it's job properly - after all, he was laready on antibiotics before starting any P treatment! But as the pain got worse, the doctors came & had a look & decided that he had a major muscle infection. They stuck him on loads of anti-biotics, upped his painkillers to serious doses of morphine & decided surgery was the only way to go - the abcess was too big to deal with in any other way.

He was supposed to go down to theatre last thing yesterday, but some idiot probably crashed their car or something & he was bumped down to first thing this morning. As he was all attached to drips, nil by mouth & full of morphine, they couldn't do any P treatment for the past couple of days! fortunately, the op seems to have gone well, and he came round pretty quickly for him, so now they are talking about restarting the coal tar treatment for his P in another couple of days.

but overall, the whole thing has been more stressful & will take longer than anticipated. Ho hum.

The kids are coping quite well - Mstr A is a bit volatile, but fortunately the school is being very good with him. LMB is more emotional than normal, but doesn't seem to be worried at all - she happily accepts that the doctors will make daddy better. LMD thinks the whole thing has been done just to give her a bit more status in her class & superiority over her friends!!!

I've not been getting on with very much really. I am terrible at living alone - very unmotivated *sigh*. Must try to do more.....

hmmm, well, it's been a long time since I posted - mostly because I haven't had a moment to mhyself really, and also because I haven't felt much like writing down whats been going on here.....

Aggie's psoriasis flare just got worse & worse, until on Tuesday it covered up enough of his skin that it changed and became Psoriatic Exfoliative Erythroderma . So on Wednesday we spent the morning up at A&E, where he was immediately admitted into hospital. Unfortunately, because it needs a specialist derm bed, and we do not have a derm ward in Weston, that means he is in Bristol - which is about an hour's drive away. Visiting hours are 2-3 (kids are at school until 3.10) and 7-8 (kids go to bed at 7pm), so not very helpful!

Of course, with Aggie in hospital, I am stuck for childcare.... I leave for work at 8am & don't get back until gone 6pm, and school is 9am-3.10. even with breakfast club & after school club I was pushing it for the older two, and LMD's nursery does not have spare places for her to attend all day anyway. Plus it closes early on Friday's! and would cost a fortune.

I did get last week sorted by paying professionals & calling in favours, and the weekend by cancelling some things and getting Nanny A to stay overnight to do the 6am start I had on Sunday morning!!! But now I have taken some unpaid leave from work - it would just be too stressful to try to organise it otherwise.

And just to make things a little bit more dificult, I have sprained my ankle:(

still, some good news - the Family Fund people have finally got back to us, and will help us get the garden a bit more Mstr A friendly:) so I'm getting quotes in this week. And Aggie is doing really well in hospital and is looking much better already:)

change of plans

It was too wet for Glastonbury today, so we went off to @Bristol instead. I think perhaps Mstr A has had too much "input" this week, as he was atrociously behaved:( actually they were all pretty horrible, so we came home early. But we did did get an annual pass, so we can go back again another time....

Aggie's psoriasis & Arthritis are really bad at them moment. He's had a massive flare over the past couple of weeks, and is really suffering:( looking at mobility scooters again.... we waiting on an appointment with the new consultant at the hospital, and expect he will get put on yet another brfand of expensive drug. Hopefully without an inpatient stay first, but I am not so sure.

It's Pesach today, and as my aunt was thoughtful enough to send a load of PAssover books to the kids this year, I have promised to do a seder supper tonight. I am sure it won't be nearly as exiting as they think it is going to be *grin*. But then we can go straight onto Easter on Friday, and get it all out of the way ready for re-enactment on Saturday. Might not be camping over tho - Aggie really needs a bath at least 2x a day at the momet, so tents and wet fields may not be the best idea. We will see.......

This week

is the school holidays.

We had a lovely weekend doing family things, traipsing round castles and pic-nic'ing in the park:) Monday & Tuesday our wonderful help did all day and looked after bthe girls, one day at the park and the other taking them swimming, leaving Aggie to do some bonding and boy things with Mstr A, which worked out well.

Today has been a getting things done day:) Everyone has had hair cuts, been to the dentist, I've caught up on some paperwork etc.

oh yes, and we took delivery of our new dishwasher. The old one just wasn't cleaning stuff any more, despite all sorts of maintenance and attempts at sorting it ourselves. It was only when I sat and thought about it and realised that it was 8 years old, and had been used at least once a day every day, that I decided it deserved retirement:) Hopefully the new one will do as well!

Tonight I will mostly be trying to sew all the clothes ready for the re-enactment at the weekend. The first one of the season and always a big one. Looking forward to a nice warm sunny DRY season this year......

Tomorrow we're off to Glastonbury for some more family fun - looking at bold stuff, and maybe catch another museum LOL.....

Did you ever think you'd see the day

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7983963.stm

finally, the US is looking at it's place in the world from an educated (and not just academically) pair of eyes!

:(

Why?

Apparently, according to the BBC's take on this story, Atheists are calling for 'debaptism" to make it a matter of public record that they are no longer "members" of the church.

why???

I'm pretty sure my name is down on many membership lists of organisations I am no longer a member of, or even interested in, or indeed, able or eleigible to attend any longer! I do not feel the need to ensure that each and every one of them specifies that I have left.

I always worry about atheists who feel the need to prove how much they disbelieve. Like love and hate, this is just two sides of the same coin. It takes a lot of time, effort & emotion to disbelieve in such a strident way - time effort and emotion that we do not put into our disbelief of Zeus or the sock monster or American redneck obsessed aliens. Personally, I think about my childhood religious education pretty much as often as I think about the "gang" I was in when I was in primary school - which is to say never unloess someone brings it up in conversaation.

Rosy cheeked spring

All the daffodils have come out along the roadsides - the ride to work is so much nicer now I'm not freezing and it's daylight there AND back:) Biking is not so much fun in the winter.

I like spring - all the joys of and all that. Life is feeling good at the moment. Our cleaner/helper is fantastic - she works really hard and gets loads clean, plus walks LMD to school at lunchtime so Aggie gets to walk them all in the morning - which is good for him and them, although he still tends to collect them in the car. If the weather warms up just a little bit, she can have a bit of a go at the garden too:)

We've booked and paid for our anniversary trip to Rome this May - interest rates are still stupidly low, so we are reaping the benefits of having a high mortgage and no other credit:) My new dining table is due to arrive on Thursday - and we'll all be able to sit together as a family again for meals (we squeeze in at the moment, but it's not very suitable tbh) and the kids will have a decent place to do their craft activities.

And although my work is going to be shedding jobs soon, it probably won't be too many, and may not be me. But if it is, at least I get the summer holidays off:) I sent in my updated CV today though - it can't hurt;-)

LMD has gone and got herself slapped cheek syndrome - she doesn't seem at all bothered, but is pretty much covered in a really red rash. Lucky it is still cold enough to cover up really - she just looks very rosy cheeked:0 Her school is being eminently sensible about it and she was still allowed to attend today! yay!

We've got another evening out tomorrow. We've actually organised it this time and we're off to see Watchmen. Oooh the excitement:) But going out is not staying in. Life is good....

Roll with it

Just yesterday I was thinking that life is feeling pretty good again in most ways.

Today I went into work and within an hour had recieved a firm-wide email telling us that (despite their assurances to the contrary just a couple of months ago) we were feeling the bite of the economic downturn, and a "strategic review" of staffing was underway.

18 lawyers were made redundant today, and support staff will be reviewed and redundancies, if necessary, will happen probably in July.

I am not overly optimistic about keeping my job - they say they will look at skill sets & requirements etc, but it seems fairly obvious to me that PT central staff will be the first to go, regardless of how wonderful we are (or otherwise).

Still, I'm actually not that concerned. If I keep the job, that will be great, if I lose it, at least I'll have the summer holidays off:) And I can certainly keep myself busy!! And I've been made redundant before, something else will come up. It's not as though this is my dream career-making job.

Although I think perhaps this is an opportune time to send in an updated CV and remind them of all those wonderful skills I do have:)

Time is fleeting

Wow, almost a week since I last posted - so much to do, so little time to do it:)

I had my 1st review at CAB last week - they keep regular tabs on us newbies, and I still have various bits of paperwork & training to complete along the next few months while I move from new to experienced advisor. It all went well. No problems from my PoV or theirs. I only seem to get through 4-5 clients a day, and others seem to manage more, but then again, I do get through 4-5, and write them up, so it's not terrible.

I also, finally, managed to write my first essay for my course this year. I have already decided to postpone it a bit & take the exams in October rather than June, but still, I need to get on with it. Now I do not need to spend all Thursday morning cleaning the house I am hoping to use that time to get on with studying.

We went up to the re-enactment market in Warwickshire yesterday to mooch around, but didn't really need too much stuff - Aggie picked up a couple of small badges to copy while doing his new trade of metal casting, and I bought a straw hat in the optimistic hope that I will need to shade my head from the sun at some point this summer....... But we have finally reached the point where we have most of what we need! Yay. I'm also not too far behind with the sewing this year - with two children & one adult fully kitted out, and only a couple more dresses to make to get everyone totally sorted (Aggie calls his a cote, but it's still a dress LOL). I even managed to sell on a few bit of old stuff. Hurrah. Mstr A is going to try being an apprentice this year, rather than a page, so will be around the living history traders rather than fighting with the soldiers - probably better all round we think!

Reality sucks

Aggie had his regular physio appointment today. They decided that his left ankle and hip have got quite a lot worse, and L1-L5 vertebrae are showing more damage too. Instead of going back every six months, he will be having weekly appointments for a while. They have to teach him how to walk symmetrically again, as he is currently putting pressure on his back and the muscles are in spasm - which is why he has been so restless at night - so hopefully I'll be able to get a good nights sleep again soon;-) Fortunately there doesn't seem to be any further damage to his upper back/neck, but thats not a lot of consolation really:( I hate it when he sees the physio - it always makes me have to face reality again. I'm quite good at ignoring reality most of the time:)

Mstr A was in trouble at school again today - the first day back after half term, and he was sent to the head teacher already:( The problem is that once he gets an idea into his mind, it is impossible to persuade him to even consider that it might be wrong - or to accept that he can agree to differ with someone. He will stick to his guns however much trouble it gets him into. I'm not sure what I can do about nthat, or where to turn for advice! After such a good play day during half term, I was working hard at convincing myself that he was managing other people better - but I think it was just that friend L is VERY good with Mstr A, and laid back about being told everything, plus they were doing a rule bound activity where the rules were fixed, so Mstr A couldn't get them wrong!

Reality sucks. I'm going back into my fantasy world:(

Moving along

It's been half term this week just gone. Not a particularly busy holiday, but a school holiday nonetheless!

I worked on Monday, and Aggie took Mstr A off to see the colour therapy optician person. She did loads if tests with various things, and ended up agreeing that Mstr A would benefit from blue tints on his glasses - apparently it made a big difference to his reading accuracy! Of course, this means that we have to get him a new pair of glasses (but fortunately they will mostly be covered by the NHS as "reading" glasses), then pay £70 to get them tinted. lets hope he looks after them well!

Then on Tuesday, I took the day off as Mstr A had his first physiotherapy appointment. It all went well, and didn't even hurt him much:) The physio agreed he is particularly stiff for a child, and said that he had a general weakness in his thighs which might be where the gait is cvoming from, but didn't think there was any real cause for concern. So I will try to get him to do more leg work - he loves cycling in the summer, and I promised to try to find a trampolining club for him too. he likes the trampoline, but finds it difficult to think up what to do on the one in the garden, although I am not sure how well he will cope with the discipline of a club. Perhaps he'll do a term or so, and then just practise some routines if I give them to him:)

We had booked a play date on Wednesday, so i took the day off from the CAB as Aggie was a bit concerned about having 5 kids to watch over all day. Fortunately we had invited a brother & sister from school who match up with Mstr A & LMB ages. They arrived at 9am, and the boys immediately went on the Wii while all three girls trotted outside to play in the garden. Apart from when I called them in for food, none of the children were seen again! The boys swapped from the Wii to the DS to the N64, and the girls swapped from the swings, to the trampoline to the playhouse. When mum came to collect at 4pm, neither of them wanted to go home as they hadn't played enough! So that was great, and very easy - next time Aggie can do it on his own:)

Thursday was a family day - we went over to Nanny A's and briefly met up with cousins girl K & boy K - again successfully managing to play together with no tears or blood.... And all the kids played with Nanny A's puppy - LMD even allowed it to climb up on her and lick her face which is amazing considering a few weeks ago she screamed and clambered vertically up my leg if she saw any animal within 50m of her!

I still don't really get the point of pets tho - I'm glad the kids are not scared of animals so much now, but why have them in your house? Smelly, expensive and dirty whotsits imo:) We even managed to get rid of our fish recently - freecycling them & their tank to a very grateful family. So now we are again animal free at home.

I went to work again yesterday - they were pissy enough about me taking Tuesday off! Aggie took the kids to the cinema to see Madagascar 2, and I'm sure bought them tons of sugary rubbish, yet when I came home in the evening & asked what they had done, they told me "nothing", and that they "never" do anything nice! KIDS!!!

Today Aggie is beingt he dutiful son again and sorting out IT issues for his dad, so I'm taking them bowling & to the playground. It's a terrible life being a child!

But best of all, our new cleaner started this week! My house looks all funny - you can see the carpets, and the floors aren't sticky:) (OK, it wasn't often that bad......), and smells of polish and bleach! She works really hard and has got loads done in her couple of hours! I still feel a bit guilty about having a cleaner, but it is keeping two people in jobs (me & her) so I can feel that I am doing my bit to help the recession:~) And it does mean I no longer have any excuse not to get on with all my stuff - I am going to really crack on with my studies now, which have been totally neglected recently, and also try to catch up on a load of first aid stuff that I am behind with.

The Book List

Apparently the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Add a ‘+’ to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.
4) Tally your total at the bottom.


1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien +
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling +
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee +
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell +
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman +
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott *
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy *
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller *
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien +
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger *
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens *
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy*
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams +
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky*
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy *
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens*
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini *
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres *
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden *
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne +
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell +
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown *
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez*
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving*
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins*
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery *
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy *
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan *
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel *
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons*
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth*
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon*
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon *
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez*
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov*
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt*
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold *
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy*
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding*
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie*
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker +
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson +
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath *
77 Swallow and Amazons - Arthur Ransome +
78 Germinal - Emile Zola*
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray*
80 Possession - AS Byatt*
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell*
83 The Colour Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro*
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert *
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry*
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom*
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks*
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole*
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute*
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas *
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo +

Only 6?! I don't consider myself particularly well-read. I just don't have the time right now. But 6!!!!

My magic eyes

remember last time I went to the opticians? He told me I was "special" as my eyes had completely healed from the laser surgery I had years ago:)



Well, I went back to the opticians today - a different one from last time, and he told me that I had "lovely" eyes. Of course, from an opticians point of view that meant that I had good strong veins at the back of my eye, crystal clear lenses and a fluid pressure of 14, which is, apparently, just right! But more interestingly my astigmatism has improved somewhat over the past year or so! So I am one of the few people whose eyes get better as they get older and spend more time on the computer! Weird huh?!

Also talking about eyes, Mstr A is off to try colour therapy on Monday. That's the thing when they give people tinted glasses and it magically cures various things. Of course, only some things, and only some people, but..... When my kids can swim two full lengths of the pool without stopping, I let them have goggles. Mstr A got there a while ago, and said that he can see much better through his blue goggles than without them or even with his glasses. So we looked into it, and there is some evidence it MIGHT help some people with some autistic spectrum disorders. there are not many qualified colour therapy optomitrists in the UK, but fortunately one of them is just a few miles away, and for £28 for the appointment, what can it hurt?

Although we might be going back to her in the not too distant future, as apparently the school are getting LMB checked out for dyslexia, or similar. I'm not convinced myself - whereas I knew Mstr A had issues long before anyone else would admit it (or do anything about it), I don't get that feeling with LMB. She does still write a number of letters and numbers back to front (but she is only 5!), and she is not the most literate of 5 year olds (but she is only 5!), but she can read, and she can spell words out, recognise letters, numbers, shapes, use a computer....... Still, I'm not going to stop them testing her - even if all it does is stop them telling me how she doesn't have much self confidence! What they mean is she doesn't push herself forwards all the time, she doesn't insist on being the one picked first/most, and doesn't vie for attention all the time. But that doesn't mean she lacks self confidence - she happily chats to everyone she meets, she tries new things without batting an eyelid, and goes to new places and makes new friends easily. She agrees with me that she is big, clever, beautiful and brilliant at everything she tries:) she happily shows her friends (and others) how to do things, and regularly performs her "shows" and concert for lucky members of the family! I'm at a bit of a loss as to what else I can do to encourage her self confidence! Or how to explain tot he school that she does have it!

I don't think we'll have the same problem with LMD - she can't bear to let anyone else speak/do anything/get attention if she is there:) She soooooo wants to be at school - she insists on wearing school uniform every now and then to go to nursery. It does look extraordinarily cute:) But I'm sure she's planning just to sneak next door into the reception class when no-one is looking! Although in fact, she's more concerned about trying new things than LMB is - she worries that she won't be able to do it properly! But I don't think the teachers will be telling me she lacks self confidence!

It's half term next week, so it's going to be a busy week. Hopefully the weather will stay dry - it's a shame the snow didn't turn up a couple of weeks later really.

Lost for words

>

From the BBC:

Talk of arson in the town has provoked fury, our correspondent says, with many locals finding incomprehensible the prospect that some of the devastation may have been manmade.

Sorry is the easiest word to say

It seems that the bankers have apologised, and that's apparently what the public wanted, so that's all right then. problem solved, everyone happy, and 4 "unemployed" men get to keep their million pound bonus and golden handshakes and sidle off into retirement with clean consciouses.



I am not a great believer in this modern concept that one person must be responsible for all bad things that happen, and that the best solution to any incident is to sack the person at the top, but neither do I believe that saying sorry solves anything.



I don't accept that from my children, and they are all still in primary school! They have to apologise if they hurt others, but they also have to do something to make it up. As a member of the public, I do not feel at all pacified by hearing 4 rich men apologise. Especially as they don't seem to have any idea what they are apologising for>:(

It's snow unusual

to have snow in England that it deserves wall to wall coverage, the closure of schools, workplaces, the cancellation of EVERY SINGLE bus in the capital city, and shock and horror accross middle England!

Except it's NOT that unusual!!! Most parts of England get snow most years. Some get it every year, and some get several inches every year. OK 6 inches in 48 hours is a lot in the south - it only happens every 20 years or so, but it does happen!

It's all gone from here now. less than 48 hours and less than 6 inches is hardly the end of the world, or civilisation! I made it to work. I wish I hadn't bothered - apparently no-one expected me there:) (although I doubt they would have paid me if I wasn't there!). I didn't even get time to make a snowman:(

Perhaps I can build one with my grandchildren in 20 years time........

Happy Birthday LMD

LMD is 4 today:)

She was very good and waited until 7 to get up. It was on the dot of 7 though, and I had gone out last night....

She's very pleased with her birthday so far - she ripped open all her presents in double quick time (with a little help from LMB), barely stopping to allow me to tell her who they were from, and certainly not long enough to actually listen!

Now she's wandering around the house taking photo's of anything & everything!

Off shopping to spend her birthday money once the big ones are at school.

Up and down

I was feeling quite happy today. Everyone at work was moaning about how far away pay pay seemed to be this month (it always is in january), but I've just realised we've spent nearly a year in the black!!!!, I've got the money to pay off this years holiday to Butlins (not exciting, but comparitively cheap, and the kids love it), the interest rates have fallen so far that we actually have a disposable income each month. Bring on the recession;-)

I was working in the Construction Dept. today, which I thought was going to be devastatingly boring, but lucky me, I got the Health & Safety unit, which was quite fanscinating. No really, it was, if you like that kind of thing, which I do LOL!

But then I came home, and heard the news:(

2 babies dead, and 10 others needing surgery. 1 carer killed as she tried to save them, and two more in hospital.

I'm lost for words. but not tears.

Cynical, moi?

Israel declares ceasefire in Gaza.

Amazing, just three days before the US president changes, and less than a month before their own general elections. Who's have thought it eh?

But more interestingly, the UN have finally (allbeit a tad late for several thousend Gazan's) decided that maybe Israel were acting a little bit illegally in some aspects of this invasion, and are "investigating"

Magic!

It's been a busy week of 1sts for me.

Yesterday was my first day totally on my own at the CAB. It was a busy day, and I saw four clients and survived all of them:) I think I did OK, most went away happy anyway - in fact one even specifically asked if they could see me next time (as she would have to come back in a couple of weeks) - which was nice. I actually feel very relieved that I've done it properly now, and ready to take on whatever comes through the doors next week.

Today I did my first session teaching 1st aid at the kids school. I had half of Mstr A's class, including Mstr A. I was really pleased with how it went. My timings worked out perfectly, and I'm fairly certain they all enjoyed it, and learned something useful. Teacher & kids all thanked me at the end, which was also nice. I used my new magic whiteboard. it was fantastic. I'm very pleased with it. I saw the Dragons Den it was on, and remember being totally smitten with the idea & yelling at the idiot dragon who "couldn't see why anyone would want to use that rather than a proper whiteboard". Obviously he doesn't attend presentations in scout huts, school halls or people's front rooms! All of which are fairly standard for me!

I've got a peads course starting at the weekend. I've re-written my session plan to fit the new manual, which has been written for the new syllabus (which isn't in yet, but why teach something that is going out, when you can teach something that is coming in!). I've also completely revamped my powerpoint presentation, so I hope it goes down well! Had a bit of a technical panic when the light projector I intended to borrow did not exist any more! But have managed to source one to borrow this weekend, and have bought a second hand one for future use, as professional prresentation is becoming more and more important, and if I really want to keep doing this, I'm going to need more than a whiteboard and a few handouts. I really love teaching first aid. Today reminded me again how much. But I really don't like all the networking & marketing that goes along with being self employed:( Ho Hum. I s'pose I'll stick to doing bits and pieces on the side then..... Although, maybe I'll get something out of the school sessions. hmmmmmm.

What a story!

It's the birthday of Insulin today - something that has, without doubt, saved millions of lives in it's 87 years, including Aggies:) It's an amazing story:

On January 11, 1922, Leonard Thompson, a 14-year-old diabetic who lay dying at the Toronto General Hospital, was given the first injection of insulin. However, the extract was so impure that Thompson suffered a severe allergic reaction, and further injections were canceled. Over the next 12 days, Collip worked day and night to improve the ox-pancreas extract, and a second dose injected on the 23rd. This was completely successful, not only in not having obvious side-effects, but in completely eliminating the glycosuria sign of diabetes.

Children dying from diabetic keto-acidosis were kept in large wards, often with 50 or more patients in a ward, mostly comatose. Grieving family members were often in attendance, awaiting the (until then, inevitable) death. In one of medicine's more dramatic moments Banting, Best and Collip went from bed to bed, injecting an entire ward with the new purified extract. Before they had reached the last dying child, the first few were awakening from their coma, to the joyous exclamations of their families.

Wow - imagine being one of those parents!

Will I never learn?

hmmmm, When I finally made it to Christmas, and saw the end of the fostering course, the NAS EArlybird course and my CAB training,, I thought that I might finally find a bit of time to sort myself out, have some me time occasionally and also to get on with my college course.

But, lets be honest, I'm not really too good at me time:)

Obviously 3 days a week are taken up with work. I have to do at least one day a week at CAB, and am hoping to try to get some phone work in on occasional Thursdays too when I am a bit more practised (we're only open for phone advice on Thursdays). I need at least 1 full day a week for collecge course really, if I've got any hope of getting it all done in time for the exam. The first aid teaching is picking up again a little bit, as the regulations will be changing this October and people are trying to get courses in before they cost even more:) So my weekends are starting to get booked up. Plus Mstr A asked if I could teach him some first aid, and I thought it would be a nice idea to offer it to the school - so I am booked in to teach kids at school for a morning a week most weeks through to the summer. With re-enactment season just round the corner, and the pre-season work already starting, I'm quickly running out of time.......

my week

Well, I seem to be getting very lax in posting again:(

Oh well, what's been going on?

I went back to work on Monday, which was particulalrly depressing as I was working for the "secretary eater" in the firm. To my knowledge he has gone through at least 5 secretaries since i started less than a year ago - all of whom have asked to be taken off him after various attempts at negotiation! He's been secretaryless for the past few months, so all of us centrals have had a go with him:) I personally have never had a real run in, but he is hard work. I can't really pinpoint why, and am not sure its his fault poor bloke (although some of it definitely), but his manner just makes you always feel that you haven't done a good enough job.......

Then, without pause I spent Wednesday doing my supervised interviews at the CAB. This meant that I had to get all my work signed off by my tutor (well nearly all - I had missed a couple of modules which I need to catch up during the next few weeks), then actually DO the real advising for whoever turned up that day, while being observed by my tutor to make sure I was safe to be let loose. I had a nice mix of clients actually - one with a housing issue, one with benefits and one with general assistance, and got a lovely report from my tutor, who said i had a "very reassuring manner". Wow! I didn't feel that self assured, but......

So now I am officially allowed to advise clients on my own, and am on the rota for one day each week! Gulp!

As promised to myself, I have finally got my college course out and started it properly. I wrote half an essay today, and will half the other half ready to be sent off this weekend. With nothing other than a book and an essay question to go on, I am not at all convinced it's any good, but that;s the problem with online learning:( I still don't see what I've paid for! i would have thought an email address for a tutor at least! Still, I have made myself a timetable, and am determined to stick to it for this module at least, since I've already paid. Whether i will carry on is another thing, and I am not at all sure atm.

My mother gave us some money for Xmas, and we are going to buy ourselves a nice new table with it. We want a good solid one, with room for all of us to sit at together again (Something we've not been able to do since LMD came out of the highchair) and strong enough for the kids to clamber up on safely and to hold whatever we might throw at it. That sort of things comes in at £500+ new, so we've been checking ebay, and today went off to a local auction to check out quality & prices. I don't think we'll have any problem getting what we want for a decent price. It's just a matter of waiting for the right one to turn up. I can understand how dangerous auctions can be though. Even I was tempted a couple of times (not enough to actually bid any money, obviously), and I am notoriously difficult to get money out of:) There were some surprises - the fullo set of encyclopeadia britannica (no longer availoable in paper form) did not sell, not even for £1, but the full 16 volumes of the Oxford History of Britain (stillaavailable, but pricey), which was VERY tempting, went for over £60! We were hoping to get that for £1, and the old scythe which has to be utterly useless to anyone, but still went for £20...... wierd.

And finally......

Beware of asking a 3 year old questions: Conversation between Aggie & LMD in a restuarant today;

LMD - "I'm drawing a picture of me. 1st you draw a circle, and then you put in the eyes....."
she draws some more random things
Aggie; "whats that you're drawing now?"
LMD, loudly, showing great enthusiasm, "That's my 'gina!"
as I crease up in laughter, "then you draw the legs and the ears and the cheeks"

Back to reality

It's been a long holiday season for me. i finished work on 23 Dec and only went back today! I have to admit that i haven't missed it at all, although the constant running around all over the place may have something to do with that:)



We had a nice Christmas day, fairly quiet. We stayed at home for the morning, and the kids got to open all their presents in peace. Santa bought each one of them a calender, a toothbrush, a bath scrubby, a book, a few sweets and a toy. They were over the moon - especially with the bath scrubbies - which were Shaun the Sheep ones:)


Then we packed everyone in the car and went off to Nanny A's for Christmas Lunch, and more pressies:) We were home in time for Dr Who, but I have resolved not to travel anywhere beyond walking distance on Christmas day from now on. Its not fair for the kids to be stuck in the car for hours, and tbh, they all felt sick by the end of the day, and needed to be in their own home! So I'll be doing it again next year:)


My mum came down on boxing day, with yet more presents - so much for my sensible present buying! They all have waaaay too much stuff again now!


We hung on here for the Crazie party, then went up to London for New Year. I briefly saw my sister H, as she was on her way home to Brighton, but missed big brother who was living the high life in the US with his wife (OK, her family are all there, and it was a cold bit of the US, so not my idea of the ideal hols!), and managed to fit in a visit to my dad, as well as the required playtime with cousin G (and sister S), which is the only reason the kids think we go to London. We also saw Mother Goose at Hackney Empire. Last time I went to the Empire was before the renovation, and I have to say they've done a good job of it. And at least it was a proper panto there, unlike the rubbish that seems to be put on everywhere over here at the moment. No Principle Boy, no Panto animal, not even a Dame in some of them! WTF? That's just a camp play, not a panto!


We also accompanied sister S to a New Years Party, and i met up with people that I haven't seen for a decade or so. It was wierd, but nice to see them again. Everyone has grown up! (well, nearly everyone lol). But I sooooo don't miss London:) But I have decided that I am going to make a concerted effort in 2009 (and beyond) to catch up with old friends and find people that i lost track of years ago. I think I had more in common with some of them now than I did then:)



I am not sorry to see the back of 2008. It was a very mixed year for me. The very best thing I can say, was that it wasn't 2007:) But there were some really low points, and few great highs. Roll on the heights of 2009!

Crazie party

this evening all the crazies will get together for the annual Xmas bash. We're hosting it this year, so don't even have to worry about the kids:)

We're a strange bunch really, but a good one, and we shall all celebrate the winter holidays with more presents, more food! a little bit of alcohol, and a DVD marathon:)

I got...

New docs:

A pretty top (a bit like this):

A chocolate Orange (it's NOT Terry's, it's MINE):

And some money:

And I've still got the Crazie party in a few days :)

How about you?

Christmas is here

The real meaning of Christmas - according to my kids anyway.

Aggie just said the stupidest thing ......

"just because they are there does not mean you need to eat them all"

Uh huh.

Happy Chanuka

It's all celebrations at the mo innit?

I forgot Chunnuka TBH - will have to buy doughnuts tomorrow now...... But I always loved playing with dreidels when I was a kid - I wonder if I can find any to stick in the kids stockings:) Or would that be wrong do you think?